"He sent me a message that he was prepping for surgery about an hour ago, so it's a little more immanent than tomorrow (Thursday).

"He's been under a tremendous amount of stress amidst health challenges and I hope he pulls through this now and can still go to the wedding."

Speaking from her home in Orlando, Florida, Ms Markle confirmed her father's health problems. Credit: Sunrise at 7

Ms Markle, who has admitted to organising staged paparazzi photos for her father, denied fueling the media coverage, which has caused her family an "unbelievable amount of stress" in the lead up to the royal wedding.

"When it gets that big it's overwhelming, no matter what your character is truly like, you can't defend yourself against something that big, it's spun out of control.

"They're going to create their own stories whether you speak or not.

"I have a right to defend myself, set records straight which is initially what I started doing - it was never money motivated", she said.